[governance] International DOI Foundation

[Avri Doria]

Hi,

I think that i both agree and disagree with the approach Kahn is taking.


On 26 nov 2005, at 00.55, Laina Raveendran Greene wrote:

> Along the way, many detailed technical choices were made to simplify
> matters. For example, the choice of the DNS, while not intrinsic to  
> the
> Internet design, helped to identify computers by eliminating the  
> need for
> users to remember IP addresses. Yet the DNS is only one way to do  
> this. It
> is critical that we avoid focusing attention on older technologies,  
> such as
> the DNS, to the exclusion of newer and potentially more effective  
> solutions.
> The life-blood of the Internet lies in innovation and we should not  
> ignore
> the powerful force of human ingenuity for the future. There is more  
> than
> enough room in the Internet to accommodate new and innovative  
> technologies.

i think this is true.  DNS as we know it, is just one way to do a  
name service.  even single rooted DNS is probably just one way to do  
DNS - though as far as i know no one has yet come out with technology  
to supposrt multiple roots.

but, any new global technology take at least a decade or more to find  
global acceptance.  and the current DNS technology is bound to be  
with us for a long while and needs to be continue having policy  
decisions applied to it.  especially if people want it to grow.  i.e  
it will remain an object (but only one part) of governance concern.

>
> Although serious discussions have been underway for several years  
> about
> Internet Governance, technical progress now provides alternatives  
> that may
> obviate the need to embrace such constraints. One alternative that  
> I have
> been exploring for some time, which operates within the Inter9net
> environment, involves managing information rather than just moving  
> packets.
> A realization of this effort exists in the form of what we call the  
> "Digital
> Object Architecture", which is an open architecture that links  
> together
> different information systems rather than just different networks  
> and their
> computers. I believe this new conceptual framework to be widely  
> applicable
> to the information management needs of organizations, individuals and
> governments.

it is an interesting architecture, but it is not yet proven.  Object  
architectures of one sort or another have been pushed in computer  
science
(the other CS) for a while with varying success.


> One component of this architecture, the Handle System, is a general  
> purpose
> resolution system that is now in widespread use on the Internet.  
> The Handle
> System can support the DNS, in addition to other identifier  
> systems, and was
> recently made available for use in connection with Grid computing  
> around the
> world. Among the early adopters is the International DOI  
> Foundation, which
> is an ICANN-like organization formed within the publishing industry to
> identify their books and journals on the Internet.


It is not certain that DOI can provide the support needed, though it  
is possible.  I have heard cogent arguments on both sides of this  
issue.  It has been around for a while and Bob has been advocating it  
for a while.  we would need to see increased deployment and degree of  
use before it scalability and replacement value is determined.

My speculation is that the methods for name resolution will multiply  
over the next few years.  what is uncertain, at least for me, is what  
technologies will be sued to bring together the disparate name  
systems so that individual userrs can still find the address they  
need.  I think it would be sad if we needed to rely on many different  
sources such that, like the telephone system today, we really never  
knew how to find someone's number and in which we would might even  
need to rely of an information operator, albeit online, to find the  
the IP address we want.

> Many of the most serious issues that have arisen with respect to  
> the DNS and
> ICANN may not arise in the context of the Digital Object  
> Architecture; and
> there is a potential role for the United Nations in providing  
> assistance to
> developing countries in making use of this technology.

Interesting tactic.  to tell the UN/ITU to move to DOI since they  
failed to get control of DNS.

Also, i am wondering, the fact that various people speak of ICANN as  
a regulator, wouldn't there still be a desire for there to be a  
regulatory function even in the age of multiple forms of name  
resolution.


Additionally, this does nothing to resolve the addressing issue or  
any of the other upcoming IG issues.

a.

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